236 HUNTING DIRECTORY. 



An extraordinary Wager. 



What follows, describes a stake, upon the capture 

 of a deer, that perhaps neither ancient nor modern his- 

 tory can parallel : — 



*' The St. Clairs are of Norman extraction, being de- 

 scended from William de St. Clair, and Margaret, 

 daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy. He was 

 called, for his fair deportment, the seemly St. Clair, and 

 settling in Scotland during the reign of Malcolm Cean- 

 more, obtained large grants of land in Mid-lothian. 

 These domains were increased, by the liberality of suc- 

 ceeding monavchs, to the descendants of the family, and 

 comprehended the baronies of Rosline, Pentland, Cows- 

 land, Cardaine, and several others. It is said a large 

 addition was obtained from Robert Bruce on this occa- 

 sion : — The king, in following the chase upon Pentland 

 Hills, had often started a ' white faunch deer,' which had 

 always escaped from his hounds ; and he asked the 

 nobles, who w^ere assembled around him, whether any 

 of them had dogs which they thought might be more 

 successful. No courtier would affirm that his hounds 

 were fleeter than those of the king, imtil Sir William 

 St. Clair, of Rosline, unceremoniously said, he would 

 wager his head that his two favourite dogs, ' Help and 

 Hold,' would kill the deer before she could cross the 

 March-burn. The king instantly caught at his unwary 

 offer, and betted the forest of Pentland Moor against 

 the life of Sir William St. Clair. All the hounds were 

 tied up, except a few ratches or slow hounds, to rouse 

 the deer; whilst Sir William St. Clair, posting himself 

 in the best situation for slipping his dogs, prayed de- 

 voutly to Christ, thr blessed Virgin, and St. Katharine. 



